Recently described bird species
pages © Rolf A. de By
As there seems to be no other source for information like this on the net, I thought it would be handy to try make it available.
The present collection contains the bibliographic details as well as some anecdotes concerning 78 new species. But not all of it is complete, and I would be happy to receive missing information. Furthermore, one or two of the 78 may prove to be invalid taxa because of mis-identification or because they will turn out to be hybrids.
It is easy to get caught for a non-taxonomist in the continuing battle between the phylogenetic and biological species concepts (PSC and BSC). I have no intention (in these pages, but see the discussion on splits) to favour one over the other, but such is a choice as well, which may lead to possible mutual inconsistencies in a full world list that one would deduce from my pages. The reader be warned; it takes a taxonomist to cut the knots.
I have withheld the details of another 20+ species for which either
- enough publication details are currently lacking (to me), or
- the species has not yet been described, or
- serious doubts about the validity of these taxa have been voiced.
Of particular interest to obtain more details are the following. They fall into three categories.
Already published, full details lacking
- Pionopsitta aurantiocephala Bald Parrot (Auk 119, 3)
Insufficient publication details or taxonomic status unclear
- Lonchura sp. nov. Spot-sided Munia
State of research unknown
- Cisticola sp. nov. "Kilombero Winding" Cisticola
- Cisticola sp. nov. "Kilombero Melodious" Cisticola
- Cnemotriccus sp. nov. "Ollalla's" Flycatcher (this may actually involve two new taxa, one from La Paz, another one from Cochabamba, Bolivia)
- Diglossa sp. nov. "Pujyani" Flowerpiercer (no specimen collected yet)
- Henicorhina sp. nov. (from sw Colombia)
- Hirundo sp. nov. "Ethiopian Cliff" Swallow
- Microeca sp. nov. "Bismarck Archipelago" Flyrobin
- Muscicapa sp. nov. "Lore Lindu" Flycatcher
- Ninox sp. nov. "Talaud Islands" Owl
- Phyllomyias sp. nov. (from Bolivia, Serran ía Pilón and Cerro Asunta Pata)
- Polioptila sp. nov. "Allpahuayo" Gnatcatcher (from Iquitos, Perú)
- Scytalopus sp.nov. (two from Perú; of which one from Bosque Ampay; one from Venezuela)
- Zosterops sp. nov. "Vanikoro/Vanokolo" White-eye
- Ptiloprora sp. nov. "Fakfak" Honeyeater
- Melipotes sp. nov. "Fakfak" Melidectes
- Amblyornis sp. (possibly inornatus) "Fakfak" Bowerbird
- Paradigalla sp. (possibly carunculata) "Fakfak" Paradigalla (latter four taxa all from the Fakfak Mts., w Papua)
If you know of a bird species new to science that has recently been described in an ornithological journal, or you know of a forthcoming publication in one of them, please inform me, and I'll be happy to include it in the list. All respondents will be explicitly acknowledged.
Do you know of missing information? Please, send me a message.
The last update to this page set was carried out on September 21st, 2003. The help of Oscar van Rootselaar is gratefully acknowledged. He provided many complementary details as well as anecdotal information for over half of the species now included. David Bishop, Alain Fossé, Erling Jirle, René-Marie Lafontaine, Ian Lewis, André van Loon, Sjoerd Maijer, Richard Ranft, Duncan Ritchie, George Sangster, Jan Hein van Steenis, Willem-Pier Vellinga and Dan Zimberlin kindly provided missing details in my original data set as well.
Rolf A. de By
Tall-grass Wetland Tapaculo
Scytalopus iraiensis, a species de-
scribed from Brazil in 1998. Art-
work © Diana Carneiro Marques.
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